Answers to the accounting, fintech, e-commerce, and cross-border payroll questions our clients ask most often about Estonia and the wider Baltic market.
It depends on complexity. A dormant mikroettevõte with minimal transactions can often self-file through Merit Aktiva or e-arveldaja. Once you have VAT registration, employees on payroll, or fintech activity, outsourcing to a local accountant is almost always the better call — the rules change yearly and filing errors with EMTA or RAB are expensive to unwind.
Estonia's VASP regime transitions to MiCA's CASP authorisation on 1 July 2026. Firms that filed a CASP application in time get a review-period bridge, but an application filed is not an authorisation granted — it cannot be treated as a continuous operational licence. Firms without a filed application must cease regulated activity by the deadline.
EMIs must hold client funds either in segregated accounts at an EEA credit institution or invest them in secure, liquid, low-risk assets under PSD2 Article 10, as transposed into Estonian law. Finantsinspektsioon expects a written safeguarding policy, daily reconciliation, and clear internal accountability. The exact structure depends on your volume and counterparty mix — we design it per client during onboarding.
Yes. Any entity registered with RAB (Estonia’s FIU) for AML-obliged activity must appoint an MLRO. The appointment is notified to RAB and the officer must meet fit-and-proper requirements. The role can be in-house, fractional, or outsourced; we provide virtual MLRO services to fintechs that do not yet have in-house volume.
Our published monthly packages are €499 for standard accounting, €1,500 for compliance-heavy clients, and €3,000 for fintech and AML. Hourly consultation is €150. Tallinn market rates range from roughly €100 per month for a dormant mikroettevõte to €5,000+ for a licensed EMI — volume, regulatory load, and reporting complexity drive the fee.
Fintech Accounting specialises in EMIs, payment institutions, VASP-to-CASP transitions, and regulated SaaS companies based in Estonia. We handle monthly bookkeeping, VAT, payroll, and annual reports alongside AML/MLRO support and Finantsinspektsioon reporting. Our team is based in Tallinn and works in English, Estonian, and Russian.
Fintech Accounting works in English, Estonian, and Russian across the Baltic market. Trilingual delivery is our standard — founders, directors, and regulators can communicate with us in whichever language fits the audience without a handoff. We serve Estonian OÜs and advise on Latvian SIA and Lithuanian UAB structures.
If your cross-border B2C sales inside the EU exceed €10,000 a year, OSS lets you declare VAT in a single filing instead of registering in each destination country. Pan-EU FBA usually crosses that threshold quickly and can also trigger standalone VAT registrations in the countries where Amazon warehouses your stock. We map Seller Central reports to OSS versus standalone registrations during onboarding.
Three signals typically indicate it is time: turnover sustained above the FIE social-tax breakeven, the need for limited liability, and a plan to retain profits for reinvestment rather than pay everything out. FIE’s simpler accounting is attractive at low volume, but unlimited personal liability and the social-tax minimum floor become expensive at scale. We model both regimes on your forecast before recommending the switch.
A FIE pays 22% income tax on net profit plus 33% social tax subject to a minimum floor that applies regardless of actual earnings. An OÜ pays 0% on retained profits and 22% on distributed dividends, with social tax only on salaries actually paid. The crossover depends on whether you reinvest or extract profits; we run the comparison on your numbers before advising.
Yes — three structures work: Employer of Record (EOR), contractor engagement, or a local branch. EOR is fastest for short-term or single-hire cases but carries a per-employee markup; a local OÜ pays off once you have multiple hires or want long-term substance. Contractor status only works when the role is genuinely independent — disguised employment is reclassified by the tax authority.
With EOR a third party is the legal employer and invoices you monthly for gross salary, social charges, and their margin while you keep day-to-day management. Direct hire through your own Estonian OÜ means you run payroll, file TSD declarations, and own the employment relationship — lower marginal cost but upfront setup. EOR typically wins below three to five hires; direct hire wins at scale.
